The Citadel Hammer Member Breaks Ground Cushions Spotlight: with Outdoor Soils Lab Build Inc. page 20 page 28 page 33 THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE PILE DRIVING CONTRACTORS ASSOCIATION | SUMMER 2004 VOL. 1, NO. 3 PROJECT SPOTLIGHT: PPDCADCA MMemberember JJordanordan PPileile DDrivingriving HHelpselps RRestoreestore UUSSSS AAlabamalabama BBattleshipattleship PRSTD STD US POSTAGE PAID FARGO ND PERMIT #1080 HP14x73 HP12x53 HP10x42 HP8x36 HP14x89 HP12x63 HP10x57 HP14x102 HP12x74 HP14x117 HP12x84 Pipe & Piling Supplies Ltd. U.S.A. George A. Lanxon Piling Sales San Francisco www.pipe-piling.com Washington P. O. Box 3069 P. O. Box 5206 CANADA Auburn, WA Fairview Heights, IL 62208 Fair Oaks, CA 95628-9104 253-939-4700 618-632-2998 916-989-6720 British Columbia [email protected] 618-271-0031 Port Coquitlam, BC Fax: 618-632-9806 Nebraska Regal Steel Supply 604-942-6311 Barbara J. Lanxon, President Northern California Omaha,NE [email protected] West Washington Street 402-896-9611 Midwest Pipe & Steel Inc. at Port Road 23 [email protected] Alberta [email protected] Stockton, CA 95203 Nisku, AB 323 East Berry Street 800-649-3220 Michigan 780-955-0501 P. O. Box 11558 Fax: 209-943-3223 Kincheloe, MI [email protected] Fort Wayne, IN 46859 [email protected] 906-495-2245 800-589-7578 Calgary, AB rgriffi[email protected] 260-422-6541 R.W. Conklin Steel Supply Inc. 403-236-1332 Fax: 260-426-0729 [email protected] Steel & Pipe Supply Co. Inc. www.conklinsteel.com 3336 Carpenters Creek Drive www.spsci.com International Cincinnati, OH 45241-3813 Ontario 555 Poyntz Avenue 888-266-5546 Brampton, ON Manhattan, KS 66502 Construction Services Inc. Fax: 513-769-0610 905-840-9250 800-521-2345 [email protected] [email protected] Fax: 785-587-5174 P. O. Box 15598 [email protected] Pittsburgh, PA 15244-0598 Saginaw Pipe CMRM 888-593-1600 www.saginawpipe.com Fax: 412-788-9180 1980 Highway 31 South Quebec www.cmrm.com Saginaw, AL 35137 St-Hubert, QC 950 Industrial Road New York 800-571-7433 450-445-0050 Cambridge, Ontario 308 Harris Street Fax: 281-361-6025 Fax: 450-445-4828 Canada N3H 4W1 Lilly, PA 15938 [email protected] 800-667-0447 814-884-4945 [email protected] Fax: 519-650-2223 [email protected] Nova Scotia Chicago Bedford, NS P. O. Box 993 902-835-6158 Plainfield, IL 60544 [email protected] 815-609-9527 Structural and Rail Division 2601 County Road 700 East, Columbia City, Indiana 46725 (260) 625-8100 • (866) 740-8700 • www.steeldynamics.com THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE PILE DRIVING CONTRACTORS ASSOCIATION | SUMMER 2004 VOL. 1, NO. 3 PILE DRIVING CONTRACTORS ASSOCIATION P.O. Box 19527 Boulder, CO 80308-2527 Tel: (303) 517-0421 Fax: (303) 443-3871 Contents www.piledrivers.org Email: [email protected] Letter from the President Published by: By Wayne E. Waters .............................................2 Lester Publications, LLC 2131 NW 40th Terrace - Suite A Gainesville, FL 32605 2004 PDCA Board of Directors Main Line (877) 387-2700 and Committee Chairmen ..................................4 President Jeff Lester | (866) 953-2189 Letter from the Executive Director General Manager By Tanya Goble ....................................................6 Michael Winters | (877) 387-2700 Sales Director Project Spotlight: Bob Neufeld | (866) 953-2189 PDCA Member Jordan Pile Driving Inc. Editor Completes USS Alabama Hull Restoration Lisa Kopochinski | (800) 481-0265 Project Ahead of Schedule. .................................10 Art Director Jennifer Karton | (877) 953-2587 2004 DICEP Conference Information ..............15 Graphic Designers Amanda Penner | (888) 953-2190 Does Size Really Matter? Vince Saseniuk | (866) 890-8756 In Hammer Cushions, Little Things Count! ...........18 Account Executives Debbie Angers, Heather Campbell, George The Citadel Breaks Ground Kamstra, Louise Peterson, Michelle Raike With an Outdoor Soils Lab ..............................20 2004 Lester Publications, LLC. All rights reserved. The contents of this publication National Geotechnical Inspector may not be reproduced by any means, in whole or in part, without the prior written Qualification Program .....................................25 consent of the publisher. Printed in Canada Operating Principles of Please recycle where facilities exist. Single-Acting Air/Stream Hammer ..................28 Visit the PDCA Web site at www.piledrivers.org. Member Profile: Build Inc.’s Dick Stromness Piledriver is published quarterly. Please contact us by mail at Still Going Strong at Age 86 ...............................33 P. O. Box 19527, Boulder, CO 80308-2527 Phone: 303-517-0421 | Fax: 303-443-3871 Calendar of Events ..........................................37 or by E-mail at [email protected]. Statements of fact and opinion are the respon- PDCA Membership Application Form ..............38 sibility of the authors alone and do not imply an opinion on the part of the officers or mem- bers of the Pile Driving Contractors Association. Membership Benefits ......................................40 All rights reserved. Materials may not be repro- duced or translated without written permission. Direct requests for reprint permission should PDCA New Members ........................................42 be made to the Executive Director of the Pile Driving Contractors Association. Advertiser Index ..............................................44 The subscription rate for members is $18 which is included in the annual dues. The U.S. subscription rate for non-members is $36 for one year and $72 for two years. COVER: Canadian subscribers: add $5 per year. All Restoration of the USS other non-U.S. subscribers add $10 per year. Alabama Battleship, Mobile, AL. Photo: Jordan Pile Driving Inc., Mobile, AL. • Summer 2004 1 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Accident Causes Reflection on Deep Foundation Safety and Behavior By Wayne E. Waters, PDCA President he recent failure of the large was drilled to a specified depth and the blow count. Since the failure occurred drilled shaft foundation under drill hole was then filled with concrete. under the dead load only, I believe that Ta pier at an expressway project Obviously, the drill hole was not open to the blow count at that depth would near Tampa has reverberated throughout the sinkhole since it presumably did not have been much less than the required the deep foundation industry. I under- require an unusual amount of concrete, value, given the typical factors of safety stand that the pier of this elevated struc- which would cause a red flag to be raised. and dead load/live load ratios. In other ture was supported on a single drilled After the concrete cured, the shaft was words, driving would have continued. shaft approximately six feet in diameter. loaded by the construction pier and later About two years ago, my firm, Ed Unfortunately, the failure was fairly rapid by the two spans it supports. The foun- Waters and Sons Contracting Inc., drove as the pier moved downward. As you can dation failed after an extended period of piles for a Florida DOT bridge project in see in the photo below, the structure time had elapsed under the total dead an area of known sinkholes. The major- that failed appeared to be completed, load and possibly by some of the con- ity of piles were driven to depths well and the next span was in the process struction load. I assume that the design below the advanced estimate of 180 of being completed. of the pier carried a safety factor in the feet. Several piles didn’t reach criteria I heard of the failure very early on neighborhood of 2.0, so I concluded that even after penetrating over 600 feet! Tuesday, April 13. Reports stated that the ultimate capacity of the existing Subsequently, some of those piles were the shaft had “plunged” into a sinkhole. shaft was much less than that required. dynamically tested and piles, without Later, I heard that the shaft failed struc- What would happen had a driven- the required capacity, were evaluated turally due to a serious defect. These pile foundation been used? A pile-driv- and in some cases, piles were added. The reports were from media sources, rather ing criterion would have been selected bridge performs admirably to this date. that factual reports from the job site, based on a number of different possibili- If a single shaft is inadequate for what- but the failure did cause me to reflect ties. At the beginning of the project, one ever reason, the structure fails. If it fails on deep foundation safety and behavior. or more static load tests may have been at a point where capacity is less than In particular, I wondered, could such a performed. The test piles would have that of the dead load and the construc- failure have occurred with a driven-pile been driven to some blow count possibly tion load, failure could cause injury or foundation, assuming the failure was derived from a wave equation analysis. possible loss of life. caused by a sinkhole? My conclusion was Dynamic testing could have also been Driven-pile solutions are the best that it would be virtually impossible. used to determine the blow count. After choice in sinkhole prone areas. Most Admittedly, I do not profess to be completion of the testing program, the driven-pile foundations consist of multiple an expert in drilled-shaft construction. driving criterion would have been estab- piles, offering a redundancy comprised However, I assume lished and subsequent pile driving would of several load paths. Remember: “A that the shaft have been performed to that required DRIVEN PILE IS A TESTED PILE!” ▼ 2 • Summer 2004 2004 PDCA Board of Directors & Committee Chairmen 2004 Board of Directors Reginald K. L. Lee 2004 Committee Chairmen Wayne E. Waters Member Van Hogan President P: (808) 735-3211 Communications Committee P: (904) 268-4419 F: (808) 735-7413 P: (904) 268-4419 F: (904) 260-9379 1209 Pihana St. F: (904) 260-9379 C: (904) 631-8308 Honolulu, HI 96825 C: (904) 631-8309 6467 Greenland Road [email protected] 6467 Greenland Road Jacksonville, FL 32258 Jacksonville, FL 32258 [email protected] Garland E.